They were among the good-natured marchers carrying hand-painted banners from their communities, district health board (DHBs) workplaces and
kohanga reo.
A new order of education emerged in the 1980s when Nga
Kohanga Reo began as a community initiative.
Between May and September 2016, the Ministry of Education organised almost 90 meetings with the education sector to discuss proposed changes to the way we fund our ECE services, our nga
kohanga reo and our primary and secondary schools.
The metaphor of kohanga, or 'nest', used in this song is well recognised by most New Zealanders in relation to Te
Kohanga Reo, a collective of early childhood centres where te reo Maori is the dominant language.
Education,
kohanga reo and Kaupapa Maori seem crucial in this leading to the Official Language status in 1981.
It has also just been converted to Te Reo Maori for the country's
kohanga reo centres.
Educational and family-oriented organisations, such as Puriri Whakamaru, Women's Refuge, Te
Kohanga Reo, Nga Tamatoa, and others, have for some time been at the forefront of revitalising Maori cultural development.
Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi (Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungunu, Nga Puhi) is a leader in the
Kohanga Reo (Language Nest) movement in Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Early childhood centres (ECCs) include government licensed and regulated facilities for children up to six years of age that include kindergarten, childcare, daycare, creche,
kohanga reo, language nest, playcentre, early learning centre, nursery school, Montessori and Rudolf-Steiner preschools.
Through fundraising and grants, the group travelled to London to be taught by experts Manaia and Te
Kohanga Reo - and they in turn visited Teesside for training sessions.
The curriculum itself was developed by two academics, Helen May and Margaret Carr, now respectively professors of education at Otago and Waikato universities, in consultation with members of the Te
Kohanga Reo Trust (representing indigenous Maori people) and representatives of the various early childhood groups.
Te
Kohanga Reo blossomed around the country to well over 500 centres in six years (Jenkins, 1994).